CAN Citizen’s Arrest Network

Email: press@citizensarrestnetwork.org 

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Today at 9am, a group of six women surrounded CEO of Southern Water, Lawrence Gosden, in the City of London and placed him under Citizen’s Arrest. They detained him in the lobby of Convene at 133 Houndsditch, the venue for water and energy sector conference Utility Week Forum.¹

The group is accusing Gosden of up to 4 counts of Public Nuisance, focusing on environmental damage and illegal sewage spills, which pose a risk to the public's access to clean water, their failure to maintain equipment which leads to the spills, and mismanagement of funds.

Police were called within moments by the women staging the Citizen’s Arrest. The City of London police arrived on the scene at 9:11am, where they questioned Gosden and eventually released him. They took a dossier of evidence presented to them by the six women which detailed Gosden’s crime and the case against him. One police officer alleged that the actions by the women may amount to “false imprisonment”.

Isabel Rock, who made the citizens arrest, said:

“Lawrence Gosden pays himself millions of pounds to poison our water and raise our bills. He’s at this conference to have greasy handshakes with politicians and Lords so they’ll let him get away with more. He’s taken the mickey, fines are not enough anymore. Privatisation hasn’t worked.”  

The conference, intended for executives of private water and energy firms, promises ticket buyers to “bring together industry leaders, policymakers, regulators and key stakeholders” with the intent to “shape policy, influence regulation and drive collaboration to shape the future of water and energy”. Conference literature indicates that attendee’s “input will be shared with MPs and government departments post event”. Speakers include Lord Alan Whitehead, an unelected Minister in the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero.¹

CEO of Southern Water, Lawrence Gosden, took home a massive £1.4m salary, despite the government bonus ban. Under Gosden, Southern Water is responsible for the most serious category of sewage pollution into rivers and seas, and is under criminal investigation by the Environment Agency. A letter was signed by 10 MPs in July representing constituencies served by Southern Water urging Gosden to reject his bonus following bill increases and poor water quality.^{2 3 4}

Just this month, millions of toxic plastic beads washed up on the beach of Camber Sands, in East Sussex. It’s been called the “worst plastic-pellet pollution incident on the UK coast for years”, and an “ecological disaster”. They were released by Southern Water, who did not admit to this drastic pollution event for weeks, until they had coated beauty spots. They are dangerous if not deadly to wildlife - and therefore all living creatures in the food chain - and are expected to have delivered sewage pathogens straight to the adults and children living in the area.⁵

Last month, leading Human Rights law firm Leigh Day agreed to take on Citizen’s Arrest Network as a client, to seek prosecution of Thames Water CEO Chris Weston.⁶

The firm is preparing evidence on behalf of Citizen’s Arrest Network for submission to Thames Valley Police, in support of Citizen’s Arrest Network’s aim to prosecute Chris Weston for Public Nuisance. This may lead to the Police mounting their own investigation, before launching an indictment and subsequent prosecution of Weston for his role in pollution of UK waterways.

This follows a string of actions from the group over the last month, with a citizens arrest made on CEO of Anglian Water Mark Thurston on his way to work, an attempted arrest on CEO of Thames Water Chris Weston, and 8 water company headquarters across the UK where CEOs were handed evidence dossiers, which outlined the damage of water pollution their companies have committed and the effect this has on the public and their access to clean water.^{7 8 9}